Iron ore futures climbed on Thursday to their highest levels in more than one week as investors and traders weighed firm near-term demand against high portside stocks, while awaiting new clues on the consumption outlook for top consumer China.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 ended daytime trade 0.39% higher at 777.5 yuan ($107.38) a metric ton. It hit 782.5 yuan earlier, its highest since Nov. 8.
The benchmark December iron ore SZZFZ4 on the Singapore Exchange was 0.74% higher at $101.85 a ton, as of 0728 GMT. It touched the highest level since Nov. 11 at $102.3 earlier.
“Ore prices found some support from resilient demand, with hot metal output hovering relatively high. But the upside room was limited by rising portside stocks because of more arrivals of seaborne cargoes,” said Zhuo Guiqiu, an analyst at Jinrui Futures.
“We expect prices to be rangebound in the short term.”
The output of hot metal, which is a blast furnace product, is typically used to gauge iron ore demand.
China will set the tone for the country’s economic development at a meeting in December and, so, in the short term, the market will give more weight to economic factors, analysts at Huatai Futures said in a note, referring to expectations of more stimulus next month.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE advanced, with coking coal DJMcv1 and coke DCJcv1 up 2.97% and 1.87%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained ground. Rebar SRBcv1 rose 0.51%, hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 added 0.29%, wire rod SWRcv1 edged up 0.58% and stainless steel SHSScv1 ticked up 0.34%.
Source: Reuters